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Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway is playing at the August Wilson Theatre, following a couple whose past appears to haunt them after they move from Chicago to London. A Dread Central interview with the production’s creators explores how live illusions, restraint and shared audience reactions shape the show’s horror. Its longer-term influence on Broadway and stage horror remains to be seen.
Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway is playing at the August Wilson Theatre, adapting the horror franchise as a live production about a couple whose past follows them from Chicago to London. A Dread Central interview with members of the production focuses on how stage illusions and the shared reactions of an audience can create scares differently from a film.
The play follows James and Lou, played by Travis A. Knight and Cher Álvarez. The couple move from Chicago to London hoping to escape their past, but the story’s supernatural threat follows them. Levi Holloway, whose credits include Grey House, wrote the play, and Felix Barrett directs. Barrett founded Punchdrunk and co-directed Sleep No More.
Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska lead the producing team through Melting Pot, with Jason Blum and Blumhouse among the production’s partners. Chris Fisher, who designed illusions for the production, received a Special Tony Award for his work on Stranger Things: The First Shadow. The Dread Central report identifies him as the illusions designer for Paranormal Activity and describes his work with Jamie Harrison on the earlier production’s illusions and visual effects.
The report is an interview and first-person response to the show, not an announcement of new dates or a formal assessment of its commercial performance. Its central subject is how theater can make horror feel immediate: performers and spectators share the same room, and the audience’s reactions become audible parts of the event. The report does not provide ticket sales, audience figures or a wider industry measure of the production’s impact.
How Live Illusions Change Stage Horror
The production points to a particular strength of live horror: the audience knows the actors and spectators occupy the same physical space, even when the threat is fictional. That closeness can make a startling moment feel different from a cut or visual effect on screen. The Dread Central writer describes the effect as a renewed sense of vulnerability, while acknowledging that this is a personal response rather than a measured audience finding.
There is also a practical creative challenge. Stage effects must work in real time, in front of spectators, without the editing or camera control available to film. Illusion designers therefore play a central role in shaping what the audience sees and when. The interview suggests that suspense depends not only on delivering a scare but on allowing the room to settle back into the story afterward.
For readers following Broadway, the show is part of a broader pattern of horror and supernatural stories appearing onstage. It offers a case study in how a familiar screen property can be adapted around theater’s particular tools: physical performance, live effects and collective response. Whether that approach changes future stage productions is not established by the report.
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From Screen Franchise to Broadway
The Broadway play takes its title and supernatural premise from the Paranormal Activity horror franchise but tells a new story. Rather than simply reproducing a film for the stage, it centers on James and Lou’s move overseas and the persistence of what haunts them. The source report does not identify the play as a direct retelling of a particular film.
Dread Central places the production alongside other horror-related stage work, including Beetlejuice, Death Becomes Her, The Lost Boys and Stranger Things: The First Shadow. It also notes longer-established theater titles such as Sweeney Todd, The Phantom of the Opera and Little Shop of Horrors. These examples provide industry context, but the report does not present comparative box-office data or claim that all the productions use the same approach.
Barrett’s background in immersive theater is relevant to the show’s stated aims. Sleep No More let audiences move through its world; Paranormal Activity keeps spectators seated. The interview distinguishes those formats while describing an effort to make the seated audience feel involved in the stage action.
“Horror is an experience to be had together, and a huge amount of the audience experience of Paranormal Activity is having an auditorium of people scream, and then have a round of nervous laughter all together.”
— Producer Simon Friend, as quoted in the Dread Central interview
What the Interview Cannot Establish
The source report does not give ticket sales, attendance, reviews across outlets or other evidence that would establish the production’s commercial or critical standing. Its description of the show’s effectiveness reflects the interviewer’s experience, and comments from the creative team explain their intentions rather than proving how every audience member responds.
The report also does not set out the production’s full schedule, any planned run extension, or future touring and international plans. It describes the show as playing at the August Wilson Theatre, but does not provide enough information to establish how long it will remain there. Claims about a lasting change to Broadway horror or the future of theatrical effects would be speculative on the information provided.
The Run and Audience Response
The immediate development is the production’s ongoing Broadway run at the August Wilson Theatre. Readers seeking dates, ticket availability or changes to the schedule will need current information from the theater or the production, since those details are not included in the source report.
Further reporting could clarify the show’s reception through reviews, attendance information and comments from audiences or the production team. For now, the interview offers an account of the creative approach—especially the use of illusions and restraint—but does not establish what the production’s longer-term place in stage horror will be.
Key Questions
What is Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway?
It is a live stage production playing at the August Wilson Theatre. The story follows James and Lou, a couple who move from Chicago to London while trying to escape their past.
Who wrote and directed the Broadway production?
Levi Holloway wrote the play, and Felix Barrett directs it. Barrett founded Punchdrunk and co-directed Sleep No More.
How does the production use stage illusions?
Chris Fisher is the illusions designer. The Dread Central interview discusses how live effects and restraint can help create suspense, but it does not disclose the production’s specific illusions in detail.
Is the play a retelling of one of the Paranormal Activity films?
The source describes it as a new story about James and Lou. It does not identify the play as a direct retelling of a particular film.
How long will the show run on Broadway?
The source report does not provide a closing date or confirm an extension. It describes the production as now playing at the August Wilson Theatre; check the theater or production for current dates.
Source: dreadcentral.com
